Uresti found guilty on 11 felony counts
San Antonio Democrat convicted of fraud and money laundering.
The courtroom SAN ANTONIO — was silent and thick with anxiety Thursday morning as the judge’s deputy read the verdicts: “Guilty,” “guilty,” “guilty” 11 times over, — and on all felony counts.
State Sen. Carlos Uresti sat stone-faced, his gaze directed at the deputy, as he heard the ruling that throws into question his two-decade career in the Legislature. The San Antonio Democrat faces a prison term of more than a century and millions of dollars in fines.
If upheld on appeal, the 11 felony charges — including multiple counts of fraud and money laundering — would render Uresti ineligible to continue serving in the Senate. Uresti, an attorney by trade, would also be disbarred.
Uresti has no immediate plans to step down from office, he said minutes after the verdict. And he will “absolutely” appeal the jury’s decision.
Uresti was accused last year of
defrauding investors of FourWinds Logistics, a now-bankrupt oil field services company that perpetrated a Ponzi scheme. Uresti served as general counsel for FourWinds and owned 1 percent of the company. He also earned commissions for recruiting investors, according to court documents.
Several of the company’s leaders pleaded guilty to fraud charges before Uresti’s case went to trial, some of them in plea agreements to testify for the government. Prosecutors argued that Uresti had used his reputation to lend credibility to an unknown company; several investors testified that Uresti’s presence reassured them that their money would be safe with FourWinds. But Uresti’s lawyers countered that the lawmaker was never aware of, or involved in, the company’s shady dealings.
Uresti’s co-defendant, former FourWinds consultant Gary Cain, was also found guilty on all counts.
As Uresti left the courtroom, he hugged and shook the hands of a receiving line of family members, many of them crying. The family and his team of lawyers gathered for several minutes in the adjacent hallway.
“This was a shock to all of us,” Uresti told a crowd of reporters outside the courthouse.
The prominent and at times salacious case has drawn dozens of unaffiliated observers to the courthouse over the past month. The courtroom was particularly packed for three days of testimony from Uresti’s former legal client Denise Cantu, who lost most of the $900,000 she invested in FourWinds. Cantu — who said she had an affair with Uresti — won that money with his legal representation in a wrongful death suit after her son and daughter were killed in 2010 car accident.
On Thursday, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas John F. Bash sat in to hear the verdict in what has been perhaps the highest-profile prosecution of his short tenure.
“Justice was served,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Blackwell said after the ruling.
In a Thursday afternoon statement, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he was taking measures to reduce Uresti’s role in the state Senate.
“I have notified his office that he will be relieved of his committee assignments, effective immediately,” Patrick said. “I will replace him in those positions shortly so that the work of these committees can continue to move forward.”
State Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman José Rodriguez of El Paso said the group is urging Uresti to step down: “In light of today’s jury conviction of Sen. Carlos Uresti, the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus is calling upon Sen. Uresti to resign his position.”
And state Rep. Roland Gutierrez, another San Antonio Democrat, said that elected officials are “held to a higher standard.”
“Over the next few weeks we need to have a serious discussion as constituents and taxpayers about how we move forward and turn the page,” he said.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra will determine Uresti’s penalty in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines. That is tentatively set for June 25.
Uresti is also set for trial in May on separate felony charges of bribery and money laundering. It’s not clear yet whether Thursday’s verdict will affect that schedule. And the embattled lawmaker has also come under fire over unrelated sexual assault allegations — accusations he has denied.